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"The most important lesson I've learned is that 99.999 per cent of people are good," he says. "Just about everyone I have met along the way has been fantastic - that includes every culture I've enountered.

"The problem is that in this day and age, with 24-hour news coming at you, the world, wrongly, looks like a terrifying place from your living room. It really isn't that bad."

He's about to begin a journey across the world's most sparsely populated country, where temperatures can plummet to -40C.

GLOBAL ADVENTURE: Karl Bushby is attempting to become the first person to walk an unbroken path around the world

And it's as good a place as any to take stock.

It is clear to see why he felt like a fish out water in the Parachute Regiment.

"My interests were not the same as other para's," he says, laughing. "I've always been into the sciences and nature. As a boy growing up in Hull, I would be out bird-spotting and collecting creatures."

Incredibly, given this is a man embarking on a 36,000-mile journey on foot, Karl felt he didn't quite measure up in the Army.

"I had a tough time keeping up with the other blokes," he says. "When I joined, I was skinny. I looked like I was 10 years old."

It took Karl five attempts to pass the arduous 'P Company' - a right of passage for all aspiring paratroopers wanting to earn the maroon beret.

"It was unheard of for anyone to be given five attempts," he says. "But my skills were good and they knew I'd develop in time.

"Everyone knew I wouldn't quit."

THE BEAST: Karl Bushby is pictured with his hand cart, known as 'The Beast'

There, in a nutshell, is Karl's character.

"As a young paratrooper you think you're bulletproof," he says. "Nothing gets in your way. I think you need that type of mindset to attempt something like this."

To date, Karl's toughest challenges include crossing the Darién Gap, the thick jungle between Colombia and Panama that is home to anacondas, crocodiles, jaguars, narcoterrorists, and FARC guerillas, and making his way to Russia across the frozen Bering Strait.

In Patagonia, miles from anywhere, a knife slipped and entered his wrist.

"Blood was jettisoning out," he says. "I thought to myself, 'I'm in trouble here.' Fortunately, I was able to arrest the bleeding. It turned out I'd only nicked the artery."

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Physical dangers aside, Karl's journey - especially in Russia - has been hampered by red-tape. Frustrating as it is, Karl takes it all in his stride.

And he expects more of the same in Mongolia.

Bizarrely, Karl is planning to join a party of women and camels for the hazardous journey, which will lead him into China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and eventually into Europe.

"Mostly, the challenges are going to be political," he says. "We need to make friends with the Chinese. They're key in all of this."

CHALLENGES: Karl tackled the frozen Bering Strait in 2006

Karl is likely to have spent 21 years on the road by the time he returns.

He's right. Hull has changed. The world has changed.

"I took a 35mm camera with me," says Karl. "I now have a Go Pro 4. It was hard getting used to new technology. But I've got better."

What does a man who has a been away so long do on his return?

"I can't see myself working behind a bar," he admits. "When I was in the States, I set up a non profit company, based in Washington DC. It's a science literacy programme. I am interested in inspiring people through science. Maybe I'll do that?"

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"I'm proud to come from Hull," he says. "It's still very difficult to find people in the world who have heard of the place and know where it is. Interestingly, the only person who has known where Hull is was a guy I met in the Atacama desert in Chile! He's been to the UK and met someone from Hessle.

"But I get to tell the world a lot. I tell people about home, the place where my childhood memories were made.

"People in Hull put themselves down a lot. I hear that a lot. But a little self-confidence can get you a long way."